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Leonard E. Nathan
Leonard Edward Nathan, (November 8, 1924 - June 3, 2007) was an American poet, literary critic, and academic.Leonard E. Nathan, 82; UC Berkeley professor, poet and literary critic, Los Angeles Times, June 9, 2007. Web, Nov. 14, 2012. Life Youth and education Nathan was born in El Monte county, California, the son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. He graduated from high school in 1943, and joined the U.S. Army, serving as a combat engineer in Europe. After World War II he enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles on the G.I. Bill, transferring to the University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley) in 1947.Yasmin Anwar, "Leonard Nathan, distinguished poet, dies at 82," UC Berkeley News, June 7, 2007, University of California. Web, Nov. 14, 2012. He earned a bachelor's degree in English at Berkeley in 1950, a master's degree in English in 1952 and a Ph.D. in 1961. He was then hired as a lecturer in Berkeley's Department of Speech, and was promoted to associate professor in 1965 and to professor in 1968. Career From 1968 to 1972 Nathan chaired Berkeley's Department of Speech, and overseeing the Department's transformation into the Department of Rhetoric. He remained at Berkeley until he retired in 1991, when he was made professor emeritus of rhetoric. The author of 17 volumes of poetry, Nathan was has been described as "a fixture for 50 years in literary circles both on and off the UC Berkeley campus." Ted Kooser, a recent U.S. poet laureate and an English professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, counted Nathan among his mentors. "He was among the finest poets of his generation and will be missed by all of us who practice the art", said Kooser, who struck up a correspondence with Nathan in the 1970s after complimenting Nathan on a poem he had seen in a magazine. After a year in India, he published a book about his experiences there titled, The Likeness: Poems out of India. That same year, Princeton University Press published Nathan's Returning Your Call, which was nominated for a National Book Award. His prose included Diary of a Left-Handed Bird Watcher and The Poet's Work: An introduction to Czesław Miłosz. He also collaborated on a number of translations, most notably with Milosz on the poems of Anna Swir and Aleksander Wat. Nathan died in Marin, California in 2007. Recognition Among other honors, Nathan received the National Institute of Arts and Letters prize for poetry, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Phelan Award for Narrative Poetry, and three silver medals from the Commonwealth Club of California, including one for The Potato Eaters. His poems were also published in The Atlantic. New Yorker, New England Review, and ''Georgia Review'', among other publications. Publications Poetry * Western Reaches: A collection of poems. San Jose, CA: Talisman Press, 1958. * Glad and Sorry Seasons. New York: Random House, 1963. * The Matchmaker's Lament, and other astonishments. Northampton, MA: Gehenna Press, 1967. * The Day the Perfect Speakers Left. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1969. * Flight Plan. Berkeley, CA: Cedar Hill Press, 1971. *''Without Wishing''. Berkeley, CA: Thorpe Springs Press, 1973. * The Likeness: Poems out of India. Berkeley, CA: Thorpe Springs Press, 1975. *''Coup, and other poems''. Lincoln, NE: Windflower Press, 1975. * Returning Your Call. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1975. * Teachings of Grandfather Fox. Ithaca, NY: Ithaca House, 1976. * Dear Blood. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1980. * Holding Patterns. Pittsburgh, PA; University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982. * Carrying On: New and selected poems. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1985. * The Potato Eaters. Washington, DC: Orchises Press, 1998. * Tears of the Old Magician. Washington, DC: Orchises Press, 2003. * Restarting the World. Washington, DC: Orchises Press, 2006. * Ragged Sonnets. Washington, DC: Orchises Press, 2008. Non-fiction * The Tragic Drama of William Butler Yeats: Figures in a dance. New York: Columbia University Press, 1965. * The Transport of Love: Kālidāsa's The Mēghadūa. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1977. * The Poet's Work: An introduction to Czesław Miłosz. Cambridge, MA, & London: Harvard University Press, 1991. * Diary of a Left-Handed Birdwatcher. St. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 1996. Translated *Agyeya, First Person, Second Person, A eelection of poems (translated with Sachchidanand Hiranand Vatsyayan). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1971. *Gunnar Ekelöf Songs of Something Else: Poems (translated with James Larson). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982. *Rāmprasād Sen, Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair: Selected poems to the Mother Goddess. (translated with Clinton B. Seely). Boulder, CO: Great Eastern, 1982; Los Angeles: Hohm Press, 1999''.'' *Anna Świrszczyńska, Happy as a Dog's Tail (translated with Czesław Miłosz). San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985. *Alexander Wat, With the Skin: Poems (translated with Czesław Miłosz). New York: Ecco Press, 1989. *Anna Świrszczyńska Talking to My Body: Poems (translated with Czesław Miłosz). Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 1996. *Cees, Nooteboom, The Captain of the Butterflies: Poems (translated with Herlinde Spahr). Los Angeles, CA: Sun & Moon, 1997. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Leonard Nathan, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 26, 2014. See also * List of U.S. poets * List of literary critics References External links ;Poems *two poems by leonard nathan at Rattle *Leonard E. Nathan 1924-2007 at the Poetry Foundation ;Books *Leonard Nathan at Amazon.com ;About *"Leonard Nathan, distinguished poet, dies at 82", UC Berkeley News *"Leonard E. Nathan, 82; UC Berkeley professor, poet and literary critic," Los Angeles Times. *"In Memoriam: Leonard Edward Nathan" at the University of California. Category:American poets Category:American educators Category:American translators Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty Category:Polish–English translators Category:Bengali–English translators Category:Sanskrit–English translators Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Category:1924 births Category:2007 deaths Category:People from El Monte, California Category:20th-century poets Category:American literary critics Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Jewish American writers Category:Jewish poets